Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, This magazine walks a tightrope: we deeply believe in covering what's newsworthy to team ropers as a whole, and time and time again, you tell us you want to hear the secrets of the pros, the inside stories of big wins and tales of the best horses in the game. (I promise, we survey thousands annually, and we have for years.) At the same time, it's our stated goal to best serve and tell the stories of the everyday team roper, the men and women who make up the grassroots of the sport. To that end, we dedicate page after page to your lives, in and out of the arena, whether it's the kids in the Resistol Jr. Standings on page 36, or those who win big at…

Feb. 8–11, 2023, marked the annual Ariat World Series of Team Roping Title Fights XIII produced by Yost Events and held at Rancho Rio in the Team Roping Capital of the World—Wickenburg, Arizona. The four-day event paid out a whopping $1.65 million to ropers from across the nation. The #8.5 World Series qualifier saw the largest payout at $258,240 with the lion's share going to former WSTR Finale Champion Bud Swagel, of Dewey, Arizona, and Gregory Carl Singletary, from Waddell, Arizona. The home-state cowboys roped four steers in 37.30 seconds to take home $51,140, bragging rights and the infamous Title Fights boxing gloves.…

I use not throwing my rope as a way to remind this horse—a 4-year-old who was started in the reining—to keep driving from the hind end and to keep his shoulders up in the front end. WHY? This horse doesn't get strong at all, but I want him to be always ready to feel the up instead of flat as we're coming into a stop. I stop him and don't throw if I feel his stride wanting to lengthen out. When I would normally throw, I will just swing through it and pick him up and get him on his butt. I will make him keep his stride tight and not let him get long and flat. A long and flat stride makes the back of your saddle pop up.…

YOUR 2023 TEAM ROPING WATCH GUIDE Roping.com, powered by The Team Roping Journal, will offer more livestreams than ever before in 2023. Here's how to watch the best ropings in the business from wherever the road might take you. TOP 5 SKILLS PLAYLISTS These are the most-watched playlists to kick off 2023 on Roping.com, highlighting what ropers are interested in improving most. 1. TIMING Apparently, the heelers are watching closely over at Roping.com. Topping the most-watched skill chart is this 21-video playlist on timing, with videos from Walt Woodard, Matt Sherwood, Patrick Smith, Rickey Green and, of course, the master, Clay O'Brien Cooper. 2. STOPPING Whoa. Ropers like Dakota Kirchenschlager, Miles Baker, Cooper, Brazile and Smith make up this 14-video playlist detailing the rope horse's stop. From introducing the stop…

As the USTRC's 34th Cinch National Finals Team Roping rolls into town, take some time to find the next best hangout spot in the diverse city for Fort Worth. For eight jam-packed days April 23–30, thousands of team ropers will converge on the Will Rogers Memorial Complex to compete for year-end titles, a 3500 RAM truck, saddles and prize money galore. The usual watering holes such as Uncle Julio's Mexican Restaurant and H3 Steakhouse will be filled with the clink of spurs and felt cowboy hats once more—but Fort Worth has more to offer than the tried-and-true spots. The Team Roping Journal team assembled some of the top tasty eats, cold brews, fun family outings and nostalgic corners in storied Fort Worth. — Lillian Kent SUNDAY 23 Red Door Escape Room…

At the Barrier | industry news | new products | The multimillion-dollar USTRC Cinch National Finals of Team Roping's early entry discount deadline ends on April 11, 2023, with mail-in entries post-marked by April 4, 2023. Entries received by these dates will qualify for discounted entries, while entries submitted after April 11 will pay the on-site-entry price. (Entry forms available on page 88.) “This year's USTRC's Cinch National Finals of Team Roping is going to offer more for the entire family, plus more for the legends of the sport,” USTRC President John Johnson said. “We are all about the roper, with the best cattle, the best experience and a terrific prize line.” This year's USTRC Cinch National Finals of Team Roping will offer a kids’ Smarty Jr. Looper, as well…

TOP 5 TAKEAWAYS In the final reporting of the USTRC Cinch Ladies year-end race, which culminates on April 30 at the Cinch USTRC National Finals in Fort Worth, Florida's Tracey Nelson was the only roper on either end to earn points in February. She now has a comfortable 20-point lead over tied-for-No.-2 headers Christa Jarriel and Rachel Kittle. Otherwise, the heading and heeling standings remain unchanged. THE WINNER On Sunday, Feb. 19, McDavid, Florida's Tracey Nelson won second place in the #10.5 USTRC at the USTRC Signature Series North Florida Championship, produced in Baker, Florida, by Ed Allen. The 9-point gain increased the 4.5 header's lead to 20, with 58 points total. Current USTRC or Key Card/Key Card Max membership is required to participate in the Resistol Junior Champion Program.…

Defending BFI Champion Header Jake Cooper Clay has ridden back-to-back Head Horse of the BFI winners. Two years ago, he borrowed Kevin Williams’ RC Shining Freckles, and “Leroy” was named Head Horse of the 2021 BFI. Last spring, Clay rode his career game-changer, Streakin Sun Dew, to the $75-grandaman win with Billie Jack Saebens, and “Sun” took Head Horse of the 2022 BFI honors. Sun's the same horse that took Zac Small to the 2016 BFI win with Wesley Thorp, and also got Small to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo that year. This horse is one heck of a common denominator. The Oklahoma-based Small family bought Sun as a 2-year-old from the Nebraskabased Fulton family at the 2007 Fulton Performance Horse & Production Sale. Sun's sire is the Fultons’ signature…

COLEMAN PROCTOR From his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rookie year in 2005, nine years passed before Proctor backed in the box at the Thomas & Mack. Now 37, the Pryor, Oklahoma cowboy has seven NFRs under his belt. He roped with Long at the 2014-15 NFRs; Billie Jack Saebens in 2016-17; Ryan Motes in 2019; and Logan Medlin at the last two in 2021-22. Looking back now, how were you different as a young rodeo rookie? Jake and I were chuckling about this the other day. Just the knowledge base of knowing where to enter and how to get there grows every year. I didn't really rodeo with the intent of making the NFR until I started heading in 2007. But for crying out loud, I didn't take a back-up…

First-time teammates and underdogs Dalton Turner and Daniel Braman beat out 250 teams and the odds of coming back ninth high callback in the short round Feb. 24 and 26 at the 2023 Lone Star Shootout in Stephenville, Texas, to cash a combined check for $70,000. The team caught in 6.29 seconds in the first round, 10.25 seconds in the second round and finished it off with a sizzling 4.93-second run in the 19-team short go. “Going into the short round, someone told me they won the first round on this steer, so I knew he was good,” said 29-year-old header Turner. The pair are leaving town with a big check, two Hart Trailers from Stephenville Trailers, Durango Boots, Cactus Saddles, Tres Rios Buckles and Kerry Kelly gear. The trailer…

Ropers at home with | Jake | Clay O | military salute | Resistol Jr. | Cinch Ladies Q: To take us all the way back, what was it like growing up a team roper in small-town Iowa? A: I didn't know any different. I had a great family, and we had a lot of horses. For Iowa, we had the coolest little horse ranch around there. Q: At what age did you leave Iowa, where'd you go and why? A: My friend JW Nelson and I graduated high school early, and went to Texas. We lucked into living at Kevin Stewart's for a month, and rented a little trailer house from Martin Lucero for another month. We had one cell phone between us, and they charged by the minute…

As Tyler Wortman explains it, he grew up seeing just enough of rodeo to know gold buckles aren't for everyone. “I know there's a ton of talent out there, but they don't have the money to go down the road,” said Wortman. Wortman, 39, lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Kennedy, on Colorado's Western Slope, where the roping opportunities aren't nearly as prevalent as they are in other parts of the state. “We're not in the path of a big rodeo,” Wortman said of his Fruita location, 250 miles west of Denver and an equal jaunt to Salt Lake City. “They aren't coming through to go to Denver. They're going on the other side of the mountains, so we don't get the traffic here.” Which is what makes…

FORWARD MOTION DOWN THE ARENA How to keep your horse running straight to the steer to give you the best shot possible. Tyler Merrill holds the World's Greatest Horseman record for the highest steer-stopping score in history with a 231.5, set this February on Bet Hesa Boon. Roping.com shot an entire series with him before the event, riding through his rope horse futurity mounts and applying the same skills he used in the WGH to his rope horses, keeping them running straight to the steer, never taking away his shot. 1 COW-ORIENTED I'm really cow oriented. I probably run to the cow harder than most headers. If my horse wants to go to the cow, I know I can get the separation by riding my horse if it's broke enough. I…

Plenty of elite team ropers in the ‘80s never went to the NFR, but were famous for dominating jackpots. These are the wolves who created the need for handicapping. These are the toughs who made it possible to make a living roping (by suing the PRCA). Forty years ago, more than a few guys stayed home and became No. 9 heelers before it was a thing. Because jackpotting paid the bills. Catching 20 in a row was how you won all-night, enter-up ropings against go-fast NFR qualifiers killing time between rodeos. “Phil Luman could have gone to the Finals,” said 18time NFR heeler Bobby Harris about 13-time NFR heeler Ken Luman's brother, who terrorized jackpotters around Montana. “He heeled as good as anybody. There were a lot of guys like…